Concertmongering
by Veratrum
Summary: Axel is forced to go to a concert, but he's glad he went. Otherwise he'd never have met this cute little blonde.


Hi there! Sorry for not updating for a while. I've been working on other stuff (that has nothing to do with writing.)

Someone wanted me to write a fic with it centered around Axel, so I figured why not?

This is for you bby. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Summary: Axel is forced to go to a concert, but he's glad he went. Otherwise he'd never have met this cute little blonde.

Rating: M for language, mentions of rape and drugs, and foul-mouthedness.

* * *

With every passing minute Axel was growing more and more frustrated. He couldn't find the cute little blonde he had helped in the pit, and he had planned on buying him a drink.

Axel's brother, Reno, had dragged him along to some concert thing called Buzzfest with lots of music Axel didn't like, in the hopes that he could "convert" him into liking "good" music. He couldn't even remember who was playing; all he knew was that there were a ton of different bands that kept coming and going on both the main and side stages.

Axel was bored out of his mind, which is what made him walk constantly across the pavilion, back and forth, to see a bit of each band. He may as well, since Reno had brought him along for free. Had even bought Axel a couple of drinks, even though all the shit here was expensive as fuck. Nine dollars for a plastic cup of beer? He could get a case for twelve.

Beer in hand, he had walked to the side stage for the millionth time and saw that it was some heavy band, and a circle pit had begun to form. He had also knocked back the rest of the beer so he could run in and join. Mosh pits were fun.

He had easily slipped into a small gap that passed as he ran by, and he was in. The rush was exhilarating as they all ran and pushed into each other; One or two people fell down, but they were immediately helped back up by some other moshers.

But then someone had been pushed into him from the crowd around them, and they had both gone down, the other guy right on top of Axel. All he had seen was blonde hair, and he heard the kid yelling, clearly terrified.

Before they could get trampled Axel had grabbed the kid and rolled as hard as he could to the left, glad he had cat-like reflexes. Axel landed on top this time, and he could see bright, bright blue eyes beneath blonde bangs. He had smiled and gotten up, extending his hand to the kid, and pulled him up too.

But before he could ask for a name, or even apologize, he was shoved back into the pit by some jerkwad, who was promptly punched in the face by some huge guy. (Mosher's etiquette: Don't trip people, don't force someone into the pit, help people if they trip or get forced in and want out. Real simple stuff. Axel suspected the cute little blond had been pushed unwillingly.)

By the time he had been able to get out of the pit, the blondie was gone, and Axel had been walking around looking for him. He hoped he hadn't gone home; the few seconds Axel had seen his face told him that the cutie was exactly his type, and maybe coming with Reno here would have paid off if he could bring someone back with him, or at least exchange numbers.

It was getting dark now, though, and Axel doubted he'd be able to find him anyway. There were probably hundreds of blondes here (albeit unnatural. Badly dyed unnatural.) and Axel was trying to find one, who he had only seen for a few seconds.

Crestfallen, Axel gave up the search and went to get another beer, thinking if he got drunk enough the horrible music would start sounding good.

It took 30 minutes to get to the front of the long-ass line, and in that time a new band had started playing, and they sounded quite nice.

At least, they didn't make Axel want to shoot his ears off.

So he meandered his way back to the side stage, where people were grinding and dirty dancing with each other in time to the music. Axel just grinned; this was his element.

He moved through the crowd easily, just smirking at the people who pat his ass and crotch. It was like being in a club, just outside.

Axel liked clubs.

Around the middle of the crowd he stopped and lit a cigarette, puffing on it as he began dancing and occasionally took a sip of his drink. Within minutes someone came up to him and began to dance with him, grinding and moving with each other.

This guy was cute too; He had spiky brown hair and looked similar to the little blondie from earlier. He may just take him home instead, since he couldn't find the cutie…

He felt a tugging on his jacket and glanced down to find a tiny little girl with black hair, looking terrified. She only barely came up to his bellybutton and was being pushed and shoved by the crowd around her.

Axel stopped grinding on the brown-haired kid and apologized, telling him he had to do something, feeling slightly guilty when the guy looked really disappointed. Axel quickly handed him a slip of paper with his number and mimed the "call me" sign with his hand, then grabbed the tiny girl's hand and led her a bit off to the side, where there were less people, and knelt down to her.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" he asked. She looked like she wasn't even 12. How'd she get in here? Was this place an all ages sort of gig? "Do you need help? Did something happen to you?" Kids brought out the horribly sweet part of him, for some reason.

She was shaking like a leaf when she leaned in to talk into Axel's ear, her voice tinny and barely able to be heard over the music.

"M-my brother Roxas is passed out and I don't know what to do, I can't pick him up because I'm too small and I can't find our brother Riku. We were all supposed to stay together but Riku disappeared and I d-don't know what happened to Roxas and I know I'm not supposed to talk to strangers but I don't know what to do!" She was crying and blubbering by the end of it and it tore at Axel's heartstrings.

"Calm down, hon. I'll help you; what's your name and how old are you?" he asked, picking her up so she didn't get jostled around as much. She cradled her head into his jacket, sniffling.

"My name's Xion and I'm 12. Roxas is over by the fence, I don't know exactly where. He passed out somewhere else but I had to drag him so he didn't get stepped on. What's your name, mister?" she asked, as Axel sidled up to the fence and began to walk along it.

"My name's Axel. Got it memorized?" he tapped his temple with his pointer finger, which made Xion giggle as she nodded.

"I'll tell you when I see him," she said, looking around at the ground.

Axel nodded. He was glad she had come up to him instead of someone else; she was pure pedo-bait. She could have been kidnapped easily, being as small as she was. And she had that sweet and adorable air about her.

Huh. Why _had_ she come up to him? He didn't look like much of a nice guy, (even though he was a sweetie at heart.) In fact, with his spiky, bright red hair, purple triangle tattoos under his eyes, and intimidating height, children usually avoided him. While he was at the grocery store one kid had even asked him if he'd been to prison, which made Axel laugh very much. He had told the kid no just as his mom took him away, with a disapproving look at Axel.

"So, Xion, what made you come and ask me for help? For all you know, I could be some kidnapper." He looked down at her, frowning.

She beamed up at him. "Well, you helped my brother once before. And I can see you have a good heart," she smiled and looked back at the fence.

Axel had helped her brother? What? He opened his mouth to ask her what she meant when she began bouncing up and down.

"There he is, Axel!" She jumped down and ran over to someone who was leaning up against the fence, head thrown back, and Axel's jaw practically hit the ground.

It was the cute little blonde, whose name was Roxas it seemed.

He couldn't believe it. Now he knew what Xion meant when she had said 'you helped my brother once before', she meant the mosh pit!

Glad to be the one helping him again, he knelt down and checked out the damage as Xion explained what happened, just as the band on stage said goodnight and the crowd started to disperse.

"I was holding his hand and he was drinking his drink, but he just fell down on top of me with no warning. I pulled and dragged him as best I could over here, and some bigger guys helped me towards the end. Then I ran off to find Riku even though I didn't want to leave him, but I saw you on the way and wanted to get back to Roxas as soon as possible, and I knew you were nice 'cause you helped him earlier," she babbled. Axel just smiled at how talkative she was. It was adorable.

He checked Roxas for a pulse as Xion chattered on about what they've done at the concert. The pulse was strong, that was good. He sniffed Roxas and smelled mostly alcohol, although he smelled nice if you subtracted the booze. Kind of sweet and woodsy.

There was a trickle of blood coming out of a wound on the side of his head, matting his hair down and staining it red. Axel figured that was caused by falling onto the hard ground. So what was wrong with the kid? Did he have heat exhaustion? It _had_ been a pretty hot day…

He suddenly tuned back into Xion after hearing "..strange guy bought him a drink and was trying to dance with him, kinda like how you were dancing with that other guy-"

Axel went red and gave a tiny cough, covering up a laugh. Woops.

"Xion," he interrupted, and she immediately went quiet. "How long did he have the drink before he collapsed?" he asked, hoping this wasn't what he thought it was.

She looked thoughtful for a moment, and then said "A couple of minutes. Why?" she asked, her eyes widening.

Axel just sighed. Yeah, it was.

"Xion, I think that man put something bad in your brother's drink," he hesitated a bit, not knowing if she knew about roofies or not. Deciding it was best if she knew, he continued with "There are certain kinds of pills people can take that knock them out, like what happened to Roxas, but there are some horrible people out there that slip them into other peoples' drinks to have a laugh or do other bad things to them." He didn't want to mention rape; that might be too much for a twelve year old, even though she was the most put-together twelve year old he had ever seen.

And he was right, because she burst into tears. "Why would someone want to hurt Roxas," she sniffled, patting his hand. Axel just shook his head.

"There's lots of evil people in this world, sweetheart. You can learn from this though; never take a drink from someone you don't know and trust, and always have someone with you. Even if she's a wonderful little twelve year old. Because they can help you if you get into trouble and can't help yourself." He smiled at her and stood up.

"Time to get going," he said as he picked up Roxas and carried him bridal style. "You got a phone? Or a ride home?" he asked, shifting so that Roxas was cradled against his chest.

She shook her head no. "Roxas has a phone but Riku borrowed it right before he went missing. I don't even know the number..." she trailed off as she reached for and held onto Axel's jacket.

"Reach into my pocket and get my phone, then hit speed dial one. That's my brother Reno, tell him who you are and that you're with me, and then ask him to meet us at the food place near the side stage," he instructed and she did as he asked.

She was shy as she talked to Reno, not as open, and hung up as soon as she had told him what Axel said. She slipped the phone back into Axel's pocket and smiled up at him sheepishly.

"He sounds really…not as nice as you," she said, and Axel laughed just as he heard someone shout Xion's name.

They both turned around and Axel saw a man with silver hair sprinting towards them. Xion yelled "Riku!" and ran to meet him, where he picked her up and swung her around tightly in a big hug.

"I looked all over for you, I thought you were with Roxas but I couldn't find either of you and I was worried sick. By the way, where _is_ Roxas?" he asked.

"Axel has him," Xion pointed over to Axel, who smiled and tilted his head at Riku, since his arms were full of his brother.

Riku carried Xion over to where Axel was standing. "Did he get drunk and pass out? Is that...blood? What the hell happened?" he looked horrified. Axel glanced over at Xion, and began to tell him how she had found him and asked for help.

"-so I think he was slipped a roofie, and the blood is from a cut when he fell down, but it isn't serious. I had your sister call my brother and tell him to meet me at the food place that's just over here, and we were gonna figure out where to go from there. The venue is clearing out pretty fast, and I figured you would be looking for her and Roxas. Where did you go, anyway?" he asked as they all walked towards the food area.

"I took Roxas' phone to make a call. Our ride bailed on us and I was trying to call a fried or a taxi or something, but no luck. I'm gonna kill Hayner," he mumbled, and Axel nodded.

"If you want, you can crash at our place for the night. We have an extra room with two beds, and a couch if none of you wants to share. Then Reno'll drive you all home in the morning. Or, the afternoon, since we've all been drinking, and the sun hates hangovers," he said, and Riku laughed.

They both laughed harder when Xion said, indignant, "I haven't been drinking!" Cutie pie. Axel would have tweaked her nose if he had a free hand.

"I'm surprised you can carry that fatass," Riku smirked. "He does nothing but eat junk food all day." Xion giggled, and Axel hefted him up higher.

"I work out at the gym a lot. Reno owns it, so I may as well use my free membership." Axel laughed. "Plus, he isn't _that_ fat. Fast metabolism I bet. Lucky bastard. I have to work off everything I eat."

They had finally reached the little food place with tables out in front, and Riku asked the little man sweeping the floor if they could sit in here and wait for someone. He nodded and Riku thanked him as they all sat down, Axel still holding Roxas.

"So…how long do these pills take to wear off?" Xion asked, a worried look on her face.

Riku pat and rubbed her on the back as Axel answered "about an hour or two. I'd say it's been about an hour and a half, so he should wake up soon. But I don't think he'd be able to walk very well…" he trailed off, looking down at the cute blondie. The cut on the side of his head was dirty, and there was gravel in his hair, but otherwise he looked like an angel.

"Hey, Xion, do you have any bottled water?" he asked her as he took a few napkins from the dispenser on the table. She nodded and told Riku to take it out of her little backpack for her, and he handed it to Axel, who poured some on the napkins and a little on the cut. He dabbed at it gently, getting all the dirt and grime, and then rinsed it with a little more water.

His hair still had some red staining in it, but that would come out. He wiped down Roxas' face with another wet napkin, and brushed the gravel out of his hair when Xion handed him some gauze and binding tape.

"You carry a first-aid kit in your backpack? Smart girl," He nodded approvingly, pressing the gauze into the cut and securing it. "He should wake up soon, yeah, I can feel him moving around a bit," he told them, because he could feel Roxas' arm twitching. Whatever dickweed that drugged him deserved to be hit by a truck.

"Axel?" Riku said, and he looked up.

"Yeah?"

"Why are you doing this? I mean, you could have just handed him to me and then went on your way, but you're carrying him and even offering us a place to crash tonight," Riku frowned. Xion leaned over and whispered something in his ear before Axel could say anything. Whatever she said made Riku smile.

"Apparently Xion thinks you're a good person, and she had seen you help our brother out of trouble earlier too. I've learned to trust her judgment, since she's always right." He smiled at her affectionately and mussed her hair, which made her smack his hand. Axel just grinned at these sibling antics.

Someone called Axel's name and he turned around, relieved to see Reno rushing towards them.

"Hi big brother," Axel grinned as Reno came to a stop in front of them, out of breath.

"Hey there, dickweed. When you said you were probably going to pick up a guy, I didn't think you meant literally," he panted, and they all laughed.

"What can I say? I do things in style. Now let's get going." They all stood up. "By the way, all three of them are coming home with us. Their ride bailed, and I offered them the guest bedroom." Axel said as they walked towards the pavilion entrance.

Reno just looked at Riku. "Ass, gas, or cash, stud." He winked, which made Xion blush. Axel stuck out a foot and tripped him.

"There's a kid here, you fuckwad." He said as Reno picked himself off the ground. Reno just grumbled, and Axel looked back at Riku. "Don't worry, this one's on me."

About halfway across the pavilion Roxas began to move around, wiggling against Axel's chest. Axel looked down just as Roxas' eyes fluttered open and closed a few times, glazed and confused-looking.

"Hey there sleeping beauty," he chuckled, and Roxas snuggled deeper into his chest.

"Mmm…it's that angel from the mosh pit.." he said, shutting his eyes. It took every ounce of willpower Axel had not to bust out laughing. Did he just get called an angel?

They had reached Reno's van now, and Axel told Riku to open the back door. He climbed in, careful of Roxas' head, and settled him into the middle seat, telling Riku to sit on the other side.

"Hey, Xion, you need to sit up front, okay? Riku and I need to make sure Roxas doesn't fall over or anything and hurt himself more," He asked as he buckled Roxas in.

Xion nervously shifted from foot to foot, glancing at Reno as he climbed into the driver's seat. Thankfully Reno didn't drink, so they weren't going to all die.

Riku smiled at her. "Go on, Xion. It'll be okay," he coaxed, and she climbed into the passenger's seat.

"O-okay," she said in that small voice she had used when first talking to Axel. She was still shooting nervous glances at Reno, who had begun to back out of the mostly-empty parking lot once Axel and Riku had shut their doors.

As they cruised along the highway Axel and Riku were making sure Roxas didn't hurt himself by flopping around. It was like dealing with a dead body.

Roxas rammed into Axel's shoulder when Reno took a particularly sharp left turn, and the little blonde jerked awake.

"Huh? What's going on? This isn't Hayner's car…" he trailed off. He turned towards Axel.

"Riku, what's-"

Axel laughed as Roxas' eyes widened and he jumped in the air as far as the seat belt would allow.

"Did I scare you?" he grinned. "By the way, Riku is over there." He pointed, and Riku gave a little wave.

"Hi there Roxas. I hope you learned not to take drinks from strangers." He said, suddenly serious.

"Wait…I was drugged?" Roxas asked. "And where's Xion? Why does it feel like someone slapped me with a pillowcase full of bricks? Who's car is this?"

Axel chuckled. "Yes you were drugged, Xion is up in the front seat with my brother, who owns this car, and you smacked your noggin when you fell onto your sister. My name's Axel, and that's Reno. I believe we've met?" he couldn't believe how cute the blondie was.

Roxas looked him up and down. "Were you the one that…the mosh pit? You rolled us out of the way?" he questioned, and Axel nodded.

"I meant to get your name, but I was sucked back into the pit. Then little Xion here found me when you got hurt again, and it was lucky she did, because a cute kid like that would have been snatched up real quick by one of those types that think drugging your drink is funny."

At this point Riku jumped in and filled Roxas in on the rest of the story as he rested his head against Axel's shoulder. He was probably still really tired. Axel rubbed his back and they all made chit-chat, where Axel learned that Roxas was 19 (same as Axel), and had just gotten out of college. They came to Buzzfest to celebrate, and Xion had demanded to go along as well.

Riku's eyes had started to droop a bit, and so had Axel's, when they finally made it home. They all unbuckled themselves and got out, Axel carrying Roxas still, who made no attempts to protest. Everyone traipsed up the driveway and Reno unlocked the door, letting them all in.

"I'll show you all to your room," Axel said as Roxas snuggled deeper into his chest. Riku and Xion followed him as he walked down the hall, kicking open the sliding door that led to the guest room.

Xion immediately jumped into the nearest bed, and Riku thanked Axel for letting them stay, asking if he could do something for him in return. Axel just shook his head no, and told him he was always glad to help people out.

He moved to the bed Xion had passed out on, setting Roxas down onto it, or at least trying to. He wasn't making it easy, since he had wrapped his arms around the redhead's neck and locked them tightly. He attempted to pry the blond off but gave up when he bit him.

"Fine,you little demon," he laughed. "You can sleep in my room, then." He walked down the hallway and kicked open his own door, kicking it closed behind him.

"Okay Roxy, you're gonna need to get off now. I need to get dressed for bed. You can latch right back on once I'm done, you leech."

All he could hear was grumbling, but Roxas let Axel set him on the bed and walk to his dresser, getting out a pair of red boxers and changing right there. He had never been shy about his body, and hey, there was a cute kid in the room. May as well show off a bit.

He turned around and got into his bed, the cute blond snuggling against his chest. Axel could swear that if Roxas was a cat, he'd have been purring. They both fell asleep like that, Axel's arm slung over the other.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Axel woke up to the afternoon sun streaming through the window, his head not pounding as badly as he thought it would. An aspirin and he'd be right as rain.

He moved to get up, but found that he was still tethered to a certain blonde-haired kid, who had him tightly by the waist. Axel groaned, knowing that he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. It seemed Roxas was stronger than he looked.

Axel napped on and off for an hour, when finally the blonde sat up, stretching and yawning. Axel leapt at the chance.

"Hey baby, you're great in bed. We should do this again sometime," he said, sitting up and stroking Roxas' back.

That went about as well as he expected.

_"We slept together?" _the blonde yelled, and Axel was roaring with laughter as Riku skidded into the room, hair mussed with sleep.

He was still laughing when Riku asked what happened.

"I- we- I think Axel- We slept together." He finished, lamely.

Riku grinned, laughing along with Axel. "Yeah, you sure did. You wouldn't let him go last night, and I'll bet you slept in the same bed."

Roxas blushed, looking from Riku to Axel, whose laughing had subsided a little. "So we…didn't have sex?" he asked, his face the color of a cherry.

"No. Did you want to?" Axel winked, and Roxas smacked his shoulder.

"Shut up, you ass." But he was laughing as he said it.

"Funny, you called me an 'angel' last night when I was carrying you…" he grinned again and Roxas went even redder, if that was even possible.

Riku grinned and watched the banter for a bit and then interrupted. "Hey, Roxas, we need to go home in a bit, mom will be worried if we don't. So get decent and then come out to the car, Reno 's waiting."

Roxas nodded and Riku left, shutting the door behind him.

"Hey, uh..Axel? Do you have any clothes I could borrow? Mine smell bad and I want to be in clean clothes." He wrinkled his nose, which made Axel tweak it. It was an adorable nose.

"Yeah, I'll get you a shirt, jeans, and boxers. Don't worry," he said, seeing the look on Roxas' face. "I have a pack that's unopened. Not even I would share used underwear, that's nasty," he laughed, and Roxas laughed along with him. Axel directed him to the bathroom that branched off of his own room, telling Roxas he could find a spare toothbrush in the drawer and the toothpaste and mouthwash were already on the counter.

Axel picked out an old T-shirt of his, which was kind of small on him but would probably fit the blond perfectly, a pair of jeans, and a new pair of boxers, folding them neatly and walking into the bathroom, where Roxas was just spitting the foamy white toothpaste into the sink. He set the stuff on the counter.

"If you want to clean your hair, I have dry shampoo and conditioner in this cabinet right here," he patted the cabinet above the sink, and Roxas nodded.

"Thank you very much, Axel." He smiled so big it made the redhead absolutely melt, and Axel left the bathroom to let him get changed. Within a few minutes he was out and as clean as he could get, but Axel had to admit, he liked seeing Roxas in his clothes.

"Time to go?" Axel asked, and Roxas nodded. He escorted the blonde into the living room, where Xion jumped up, excited.

"Axel!" she yelled, and ran up to hug him. He laughed and ruffled her hair as she slipped her hand into his, swinging it back and forth. God, she was fucking adorable. Roxas surprised him by shyly slipping his hand into Axel's free one, squeezing tightly. Axel squeezed back and they all walked outside to the van, where Reno was sitting in the front seat and Riku in the passenger's.

Axel got down on one knee and gave Xion a big hug. "You be careful, alright?" she nodded and kissed him on the cheek.

"Bye bye Axel! See you soon!" she waved, and hopped into the back seat.

Axel stood back up and stepped up to Roxas, who blushed red. Bringing his lips to the blonde's ear, he slipped a piece of paper into the other's pocket, whispering "Here's my number. We will definitely be seeing each other again. Say, noon, on Saturday, at the Twilight Café. Make sure you don't have other plans." He kissed Roxas swiftly on the lips.

Roxas blushed a deeper red and brought two fingers to his lips, as though he was making sure that actually happened. Axel licked his lips and pushed Roxas towards the car, waving goodbye to the adorable little family he had had the fortune to meet. He continued waving until they had turned the corner out of sight, and Axel went back into the house to get some sleep.

He couldn't wait for Saturday.


End file.
